Radio Bandwidth

Frequency spectrum of a typical modulated AM or FM radio signal. It consists of a component C at the

carrier wave frequency {\displaystyle f_{c}}f_{c} with the information (modulation) contained in two
narrow bands of frequencies called sidebands (SB) just above and below the carrier frequency.

A modulated radio wave, carrying an information signal, occupies a range of frequencies. See diagram.
The information (modulation) in a radio signal is usually concentrated in narrow frequency bands called
sidebands (SB) just above and below the carrier frequency. The width in hertz of the frequency range
that the radio signal occupies, the highest frequency minus the lowest frequency, is called its bandwidth
(BW).[9] For any given signal-to-noise ratio, an amount of bandwidth can carry the same amount of
information (data rate in bits per second) regardless of where in the radio frequency spectrum it is
located, so bandwidth is a measure of information-carrying capacity. The bandwidth required by a radio
transmission depends on the data rate of the information (modulation signal) being sent, and the
spectral efficiency of the modulation method used; how much data it can transmit in each kilohertz of
bandwidth. Different types of information signals carried by radio have different data rates. For
example, a television (video) signal has a greater data rate than an audio signal.

The radio spectrum, the total range of radio frequencies that can be used for communication in a given
area, is a limited resource.[9][3] Each radio transmission occupies a portion of the total bandwidth
available. Radio bandwidth is regarded as an economic good which has a monetary cost and is in
increasing demand. In some parts of the radio spectrum, the right to use a frequency band or even a
single radio channel is bought and sold for millions of dollars. So there is an incentive to employ
technology to minimize the bandwidth used by radio services.

In recent years there has been a transition from analog to digital radio transmission technologies. Part of
the reason for this is that digital modulation can often transmit more information (a greater data rate) in
a given bandwidth than analog modulation, by using data compression algorithms, which reduce
redundancy in the data to be sent, and more efficient modulation. Other reasons for the transition is
that digital modulation has greater noise immunity than analog, digital signal processing chips have
more power and flexibility than analog circuits, and a wide variety of types of information can be
transmitted using the same digital modulation.

Because it is a fixed resource which is in demand by an increasing number of users, the radio spectrum
has become increasingly congested in recent decades, and the need to use it more effectively is driving
many additional radio innovations such as trunked radio systems, spread spectrum (ultra-wideband)
transmission, frequency reuse, dynamic spectrum management, frequency pooling, and cognitive radio.
ITU frequency bands

The ITU arbitrarily divides the radio spectrum into 12 bands, each beginning at a wavelength which is a
power of ten (10n) metres, with corresponding frequency of 3 times a power of ten, and each covering a
decade of frequency or wavelength.[3][10] Each of these bands has a traditional name:

Band name Abbreviation Frequency Wavelength Band name Abbreviation

Frequency Wavelength

Extremely low frequency ELF 3 – 30 Hz 100,000–10,000 km High frequency HF

3 – 30 MHz 100–10 m

Super low frequency SLF 30 – 300 Hz 10,000–1,000 km Very high frequency VHF
30 – 300 MHz 10–1 m

Ultra low frequency ULF 300 – 3000 Hz 1,000–100 km Ultra high frequency UHF 300 –
3000 MHz 100–10 cm

Very low frequency VLF 3 – 30 kHz 100–10 km Super high frequency SHF 3 – 30
GHz 10–1 cm

Low frequency LF 30 – 300 kHz 10–1 km Extremely high frequency EHF 30 –

300 GHz 10–1 mm

Medium frequency MF 300 – 3000 kHz 1000–100 m Tremendously high frequency THF
300 – 3000 GHz 1–0.1 mm

It can be seen that the bandwidth, the range of frequencies, contained in each band is not equal but
increases exponentially as the frequency increases; each band contains ten times the bandwidth of the
preceding band. The greater bandwidth available has motivated a continuing trend to exploit higher
frequencies throughout radio's history.